Lijiang, Ancient Town, Yannan
Each week Cee of Cee’s Photography challenges bloggers with a fun prompt. This week we’re to share photos with colors that show summer in all its glory.
Five Dragon Pond, Jinan
Dog Days of Summer, Lijiang
Summer in the City
Click here to see more summer scenes photos, click here.
By Emily Dickinson
Further in Summer than the Birds
Pathetic from the Grass
A minor Nation celebrates
Its unobtrusive Mass.
No Ordinance be seen
So gradual the Grace
A pensive Custom it becomes
Enlarging Loneliness.
Antiquest felt at Noon
When August burning low
Arise this spectral Canticle
Repose to typify
Remit as yet no Grace
No Furrow on the Glow
Yet a Druidic Difference
Enhances Nature now
By John Clare
Now swarthy Summer, by rude health embrowned,
Precedence takes of rosy fingered Spring;
And laughing Joy, with wild flowers prank’d, and crown’d,
A wild and giddy thing,
And Health robust, from every care unbound,
Come on the zephyr’s wing,
And cheer the toiling clown.
Happy as holiday-enjoying face,
Loud tongued, and “merry as a marriage bell,”
Thy lightsome step sheds joy in every place;
And where the troubled dwell,
Thy witching charms wean them of half their cares;
And from thy sunny spell,
They greet joy unawares.
Then with thy sultry locks all loose and rude,
And mantle laced with gems of garish light,
Come as of wont; for I would fain intrude,
And in the world’s despite,
Share the rude wealth that thy own heart beguiles;
If haply so I might
Win pleasure from thy smiles.
Me not the noise of brawling pleasure cheers,
In nightly revels or in city streets;
But joys which soothe, and not distract the ears,
That one at leisure meets
In the green woods, and meadows summer-shorn,
Or fields, where bee-fly greets
The ear with mellow horn.
The green-swathed grasshopper, on treble pipe,
Sings there, and dances, in mad-hearted pranks;
There bees go courting every flower that’s ripe,
On baulks and sunny banks;
And droning dragon-fly, on rude bassoon,
Attempts to give God thanks
In no discordant tune.
The speckled thrush, by self-delight embued,
There sings unto himself for joy’s amends,
And drinks the honey dew of solitude.
There Happiness attends
With inbred Joy until the heart o’erflow,
Of which the world’s rude friends,
Nought heeding, nothing know.
There the gay river, laughing as it goes,
Plashes with easy wave its flaggy sides,
And to the calm of heart, in calmness shows
What pleasure there abides,
To trace its sedgy banks, from trouble free:
Spots Solitude provides
To muse, and happy be.
Who else thinks these suits are better than a Speedo?
Inspired by this week’s prompt, I’ve scoured Flickr Commons for bathing suits of bygone days. Here’s what I found.
Bathing Beauties circa 1935, State Library of Queensland
State Library of NSW, 1910
Library of Congress, 1912
Florida Memory 1924
Written on a Summer Evening
By John Keats
The church bells toll a melancholy round,
Calling the people to some other prayers,
Some other gloominess, more dreadful cares,
More harkening to the sermon’s horrid sound.
Surely the mind of man is closely bound
In some blind spell: seeing that each one tears
Himself from fireside joys and Lydian airs,
And converse high of those with glory crowned.
Still, still they toll, and I should feel a damp,
A chill as from a tomb, did I not know
That they are dying like an outburnt lamp, –
That ’tis their sighing, wailing, ere they go
Into oblivion -that fresh flowers will grow,
And many glories of immortal stamp.
1.5 oz dry gin (unaged)*
1/2 a glass of Fever Tree Elderflower Tonic
1/2 a glass of Angostrua Lemon Lime and Bitters Soda
a bit of fresh dill to garnish
Serve with lots of ice.
*The gin is optional.
Monday the Cookbook Bookclub met in the branch where I work and their theme was beach food. The bookclub looked at Margaritaville: The Cookbook: Relaxed Recipes For a Taste of Paradise and The Beach House Cook Book by author Mary Kay Andrews. The later had a recipe for S’Mores Nachos, which seems like a fun summer dessert for a party.
Here’s a recipe from delish.com, which is basically the same.
INGREDIENTS
2 sleeves graham crackers, broke into thin squares
30 marshmallows
3 c. semisweet chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In an oven-proof skillet, layer graham crackers and half the marshmallows and 2 cups chocolate chips. Top with another layer of marshmallows and bake until marshmallows are soft and golden, about 10 minutes. (Broil 2 minutes if you want them more golden.)
Meanwhile, melt remaining 1 cup chocolate chips on low heat. Drizzle with melted chocolate and serve immediately.
London
Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American Eastern Time).
London
Westminster Catholic Church
You can see more contributions to the doors challenge, by clicking here.
By Robert Frost
Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,
And here on earth come emulating flies,
That though they never equal stars in size,
(And they were never really stars at heart)
Achieve at times a very star-like start.
Only, of course, they can’t sustain the part.
This weeks prompt shows happy people wading in the water. Now that we’re getting some warm weather in the Midwest, thinking about sunny days spent swimming seems reasonable.
State Library of New South Wales, 1908
These friends sure have great smiles and modest suits.
Florida Memories, 1949
Even my friends and I could do that.
Nationaal Archief, n.d.
Improvised sunscreen, Nationaal Archief, n.d.
To see more responses to this fun in the sun prompt, click here.
Ruined for Life: Phoenix Edition 